


…and a time to change.

by Senji



Category: Belgariad/Malloreon Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-01-27
Updated: 2000-01-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senji/pseuds/Senji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>With thanks to my Betas; Zubrette, Joy Green, Trina Rule, and Leia.</p>
    </blockquote>





	…and a time to change.

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to my Betas; Zubrette, Joy Green, Trina Rule, and Leia.

The battle raged around him again. Again he stayed in his tower, while lives were shed for his pleasure. Again the second day passed without any success, and, as the third day dawned, resolved he that he would again not take the field that day.

But again, yet again, out came Brand, Warder of Riva, to the field. Again came the challenge, and, in an ecstacy of delight, the acceptance. Again he donned his armour, and again he made that Choice that sealed his fate, and left the tower.

Again the taunts, again the battle. Again Brand wounded. But this time, this time different - and as Brand revealed his shield the whole earth moved, and the heavens called out, and the slumber that had been his for five hundred years began the long slow process of slipping away.

Awareness came slowly, but the accursed presence of Cthrag Yaska still made its mark on the world. Initially at rest, but sometime later he felt it move, come closer, then stop. The pace of events, the pace of thoughts, increased without relenting. Someone, Zedar, came to move the body, move it to Cthol Mishrak, to the City of the Night, to the place foretold.

An explosion, an emptiness, an awareness gone. Cthrag Yaska moving again. Reunited with the line of Riva, with his mortal enemy. The Event drawing ever closer. The presence in his mind speaking to him yet again. Knowledge. Understanding of what he must do. The Godslayer moving, coming here. An instruction to Zedar,

"See my bride awaits me at the time of my victory."

The forces of Angarak moving, at war again, lives once again sacrificed to his glory. The Godslayer in his lands. In my lands. Must awake, arise from this slumber that has held me.

Temptations cast I at mine enemy, aimed at his sensitive points,

"You will be our son."

An intrusion, awareness. My bride at last…, and that accursed red-haired girl, from whom my enemy derives so much of his power. The time is here, my enemy will be defeated soon. And then the world, and my bride, will be mine.

Instructions from the presence, "Abide yet, there is that that must happen."

So abide I did. And the events that followed surprised even me. Prophecy fulfilled, yes, but what a twist. Zedar was pleading with Polgara, attempting to justify his apostacy, while she remained firm in denying him the understanding he sought. The focus shifted, to the lad Eriond, and the story of his finding, before it segued into a plea that she surrender to me.

Suddenly the smith, Durnik, attacked Zedar, with a ferocity unexpected, and, dying, precipitated the entry of Belgarath, the Guide, and my enemy, the Godslayer.

Belgarath came through the door in the wake of a fireball, enraged and certain, and attacked Zedar with a viciousness rarely found in man. Meanwhile Polgara was crying, crying over the body of the fallen smith. Without warning Belgarath ripped a hole in the ground, with a power made only greater by his emotion, and the two combatants continued their struggle miles beneath the city.

Meanwhile, my enemy and I were the site of another struggle, a greater one, one that had been in preparation all the time I slept; and longer. The forces that guide the Universe moving, changing, becoming.

The distraction presented by this battle made it difficult for me to remain in place, apparently asleep, but yet did I abide. The time was not yet come; and, as I had determined to my cost all those years before, the time determines the event.

Suddenly, the world exploded into a wash of power as the Eternal Man himself emerged again from the rock, and for the first time I saw beyond the arrogant upstart to see my brother's disciple. And with that revelation the fire that burnt through my side seemed to intensify beyond bearing, but yet did I abide.

But, in the pain that accompanied that act of will, my attention was diverted from the acts being played out on the floor of the Tomb, until,

"Now, my servant, time for you to meet your destiny…"

And I turned my head, and I opened my eyes, and I gazed upon my opponents. And at the sight of them I reached for Cthrek Goru, and made to do war.

And at that moment, it seemed to me that my assessment of Belgarath had been right after all, for he flung himself upon me, intent on stopping what must come to pass. So, I treated him with the contempt he deserved, and threw him across the room with my mind. And, in order to finish teaching him the lesson I had owed to him since before these injuries had been inflicted on me, I stood, and I strode over to him.

However, my route was interrupted by my bride to be, protecting her father.

"My bride."

"Never, Torak."

"Thou hast come to me at last, Polgara."

"I have come to watch you die," but her heart was not in the words.

"Die, Polgara? Me? No, my bride, that is not why thou hast come. My will has drawn thee to me as was foretold. And now thou art mine. Come to me, my beloved."

"Never!" But her voice belied her words, after all, was she not mine?

"Never, Polgara? Thou wilt submit to me, my bride. I will bend thee to my will. Thy struggles shall but make my victory over thee the sweeter. In the end I will have thee. Come here." Come here. So simple a set of words, so imbued with my will and Necessity. The conflict caused probably shook worlds.

"No!" she gasped, showing amazing amounts of resistance.

"Look at me Polgara, I am thy fate. All thou didst think to love before me shall fall away, and thou shall love only me. Look at me."

And with her will so degraded by the onslaught of both a God and a Necessity she was forced to comply. And at that point I knew I had won.

"Thy will crumbles, my beloved. Now come to me."

And she moved towards me, my bride, my one true love.

And was stopped, by the flaming sword of Iron-grip Riva, wielded by Belgarion himself, my enemy, evidently released by the Necessity guiding him.

"So, Belgarion, it comes to this. Or will you seek release, and submit?"

"Never! I will fight you for the life of my Aunt, and for the world."

"Then die." And at that point the presence guiding me took control;

"Are the conditions met?"

"They are," came the reply from Belgarion's mouth. "These two seem sufficient," it replied, as the body it inhabited grew in size, to match me and more.

"Then let us await the outcome." And as the restraints on my will dissolved, I too made to grow in size until the two of us were evenly matched.

The battle was no show of swordsmanship, I was out of practice and the fires flowing through my veins impeded my concentration. Similarly my opponent was evidently unskilled, and it was not long until he made a mistake that lead to him falling, and I gave him one last chance for life;

"Yield!"

"I have no wish to kill thee, boy. Yield and I will spare thy life."

The tensions on his face were evident, as was the point at which he gave in, "I do so yield. Do with me as you will." And his Necessity left him. And he was alone.

We returned to normal size, and the voice in my head spoke again unto me:

"My thanks, Torak, your task is done now. Hail and Farewell."

And it left. And I too was alone. And the absence in my mind caused reflections that had been suppressed since my brothers and I created the world to flow freely.

And, in a time that seemed like hours, but could not have been more than seconds, I realised that my whole existence had been flawed. That I had been deceiving myself in my arrogance, and not considering the right thing to do.

So I sat down, and I wept. Tears of fire flowing from one eye, tears of brine from the other. And it came to me that there were some things I had done that I could undo, although much of what I had done was irrevocable.

So, I strode over Polgara, the woman whom I had thought I loved, and now knew that I did, and said to her.

"Polgara, my love, I release thee from thy choice, and to demonstrate my sincerity I give thee this gift."

And I turned to my vanquished opponent, and to him I said;

"Give me the stone from your sword."

And he did, his will too torn to fight me. And I took my brother's jewel in my right hand, and I felt it start to burn the skin off my hand. And I resisted the temptation to do anything to get it as far from me as possible, and I walked over to the body of the smith, Durnik, every step an agony.

And I said unto Cthrag Yaska, "Stone, do this one thing for me."

And I placed the stone upon the chest of the smith, holding it down, as if with both hands, saying, "Heal this man. I cannot do it myself, and I owe it to the woman I love."

And as I said it a woman stepped out of the shadows, a woman who was also a wolf, alight with the blue aura of Cthrag Yaska. And I knew that she was Poledra, wife of Belgarath, reported dead so many years ago. And she came over to me, and placed her hands over where my left hand should have been, and the blue aura surrounding her covered the three of us, and with a brief blast of fiery pain my injuries were healed, and the smith was alive, if unconscious and coughing.

And she turned to me, and said "And done," and something passed between us, and once again there was a presence in my mind, one somehow more benign, more cooperative, more adaptable, and it said unto me;

"Greetings Torak, I hope that I am less intrusive than my counterpart."


End file.
